Important: Medicare provider notice regarding federal Sunshine Act mandates.
Federal Sunshine Act mandates can jeopardize your practice unless you identify and dispute errors within a quick deadline.
The Sunshine Act requires that vendors post the names of every provider (Physicians and NPPs) who have a financial relationship, which includes way more items than you might think. Something as simple as a drug rep bringing lunch for your practice staff must be reported into this online database.
Why is Sunshine Act Important to You?
So, why do you care? Because incorrect financial relationship information posted about your provider into this online database can lead to serious violation allegations (i.e., conflict-of-interest, Stark/Antikickback, etc.) and negatively affect your practice’s ability to retain and attract new patients. Your only hope is to know how to identify and dispute posting errors about your providers by the Sunshine Act’s deadline, which can be easier said than done.
Although accessing and disputing data in the Sunshine Act’s open payment database can be complex, help is available. During this online training, healthcare attorney and compliance expert Ritu Kaur Cooper, Esq., will present a 60-minute online training that can help. Ritu will provide you with actionable steps that help you cut through the red tape of your provider Sunshine Act listings, where to look for errors, and exactly how to dispute erroneous data about your provider.
Reputation-Saving Sunshine Act Strategies
Below are just a few of the plain-English, reputation-saving Sunshine Act strategies you’ll receive by attending this expert-led online training event:
- Identify and resolve posting errors that you really need to worry about
- Quickly dispute erroneous postings with easy, step-by-step tactics
- Simplify access and utilization of the Sunshine Act’s Open Payment system
- Pin down how to get a provider listing removed from the federal database
- Nail down which of your providers are actually subject to posting mandates
- Stop missed deadlines from leading to unwanted consequences
- Master what really qualifies as a vendor “payment” and how to dispute a posting
- And much, much more…
Meet Sunshine Act Requirements
CMS does not verify that the Sunshine Act reports it receives from applicable vendors are accurate. It is up to you to do this. And if you identify an error, only you can dispute it (when warranted). But first, you must know how to do it and the tight deadlines you must meet.
Don’t let your practice suffer the consequences of an erroneous Sunshine Act listing. Sign up for Ritu’s how-to online training event today.
Ritu Kaur Cooper is a shareholder in the Washington DC office of Hall Render Killian Heath & Lyman, PC. Hall Render is the largest health care-focused law firm in the country. Ritu is the co-chair of the firm’s Compliance Service Line. Ritu’s practice consists of representing health care providers such as hospitals and health systems in litigation, regulatory and compliance matters. Her particular area of focus is on fraud and abuse, compliance, internal and government investigations, as well as voluntary disclosures to the OIG Self Disclosure Protocol or the CMS Self-Referral Disclosure Protocol. Ritu also served as the Interim Compliance Officer for Beaver Dam Community Hospitals, Inc. and the Interim Division I Deputy Compliance Officer for Prime Healthcare Services, Inc.
Ritu advises clients on whether arrangements are compliant with the Stark Law, Anti-Kickback Statue, and the Civil Monetary Penalties Law. She regularly works with the legal and compliance departments to assist clients with the development of effective compliance programs consistent with the OIG guidance. She drafts compliance policies and procedures, develops and provides compliance education and training from the Board level to employees to contracted physicians, drafts and negotiates agreements consistent with the fraud and abuse laws and assists clients with internal investigations and implementing appropriate corrective actions. She counsels health care providers as well as medical device and pharmaceutical companies on compliance with the Stark Law, Anti-Kickback Statute, AdvaMed Code of Conduct, PhRMA Code, and state and federal “Sunshine” laws.
Ritu is licensed to practice in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Missouri, and the District of Columbia. She is also admitted before the United States Supreme Court and the District Court of the District of New Jersey. She is an honors graduate from The George Washington University (B.A.), a cum laude graduate from Syracuse University (J.D.), and was awarded an L.L.M. in Health Law by Saint Louis University.
Ritu served as the American Health Lawyers Association’s (AHLA’s) Vice Chair of Research and Website for the Hospitals and Health Systems Practice Group for four years, the Vice Chair of Strategic Initiatives for one year and now Vice Chair-Educational Programming. Ritu is also a member of AHLA’s Nominating Committee. She is a past president of the South Asian Bar Association of Washington, DC and an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Ritu frequently writes and lectures on compliance and the health care fraud and abuse laws.
